Greek duo Keep Shelly In Athens' first EP for Planet Mu is in keeping with a consistent level of odd synth-pop that the label has released from Tropics to Vezelay, and Heterotic to Solar Bears. They first came to the label's attention with their remix of Solar Bears 'Cub', an awesome re-imagining of the track from SB's 'She Was Coloured In' album. The remix is a monumental slice of cold but blissful synth pop, with stadium-sized reverbs and punched-in repetitive vocals over rumbling guitars and punchy drums. 'The Chains' has all the off-key atmosphere of an Italian horror film soundtrack with the band's female singer intoning a melody that could come from a 'Violator'-era Depeche Mode song. The whole song breaks down towards the end into an intense finale. The EP's title track 'Campus Martius' has a giant humming bassline, with electronic drums scratching away like insects flying at windows, as a gentle piano line ripples over the top painting a feeling of airy pleasure while vocal samples drop a melody at altered pitches in a scene of tentative bliss. Finally, 'Struggle With Yourself' pits Sarah's raw singing over a weird acidic bassline that could easily sound at home on a Coil record along with loose guitar strums, before the track breaks into light spoken word and angelic vocals, finishing off as it started, but with a stark warning.

Londoner Swindle is one of the most versatile and exciting producers to emerge over the past few years, taking influences from grime and funky to create a new synthed-out funk. His CV reads like a who's who of the UK MC scene, having worked with Chipmunk, Roll Deep, Asher D & Mutya Buena, Double S, No Lay and more. His profile has been on a steady upward swing since the start of the year thanks to his well-received releases on Butterz, but Swindle is no one trick pony though and feels equally at home building UK funky tracks that evoke the soulful sounds of Masters At Work but which at the same time totally destroy dancefloors with pulsating basstones, as this mid 2010 outing for Planet Mu ably attests. The energetic lead track 'Airmiles' was hammered on 1Xtra and Rinse FM by Mistajam, Target Brackles and Oneman when first released, and the rest of the EP doesn't let up either, with the twisting bass tones of 'Daredevil', and the hyperfunk of 'Coffee' among the highlights.

Solar Bears' music is a many-faceted soundworld that hangs together through a mix of the rich colours of hip hop inflected analogue electronica with touches of the shimmering neon synths of late 70s / early 80s Kosmiche music. It's warm and organic with a languid, pastoral grace that intertwines acoustic and rock instruments with electronics. Their tracks twist through prog rock's structures and sounds, occasionally making sharp turns into noisier, tense post rock territory. Check the way 'Trans Waterfall' gently builds from its synth lead melody through passages of tense guitar building into gentle acoustic guitars and flutes. Or the way 'Photo Negative Living' rolls along dreamily on a 4/4 beat before the slicing guitar riffs crash in. This is gorgeous stuff. On Side B, 'Crystalline' gets a remix by Letherette which deconstructs the original and spins it through a head nodding hip hop remix, whilst Lone gives 'Twin Stars' a pulsing, atmospheric, upbeat Detroit techno influenced rub.

This three track EP from the aptly named Dream Continuum is a collaboration between Travis Stewart a.k.a. Machinedrum and Jim Coles a.k.a. Om Unit, who was the mind behind the Philip D Kick 'footwork jungle' tracks in 2011. The meeting came about when Travis and Jim realised they were working in parallel on the same concept of finding the sweet spot between mid-90's euphoric jungle and footwork, so naturally they set about working out how to find it together. The 'Reworkz EP' moves backwards and forwards in time with 'Be Free' treating jungle's diva samples with footwork pitch bending and repetition while adding huge uplifting chords that capture the euphoria of rave perfectly. It's then laid over tough, rolling 808 kicks and snares at 160bpm with a carpet of pumping, rhythmic sub-bass resulting in a new hybrid that is both fresh and energetic. 'Give A Lil Luv' is, if anything, even more euphoric, like rolling thunder with an intense, melodic use of samples and chord stabs with metallic breaks building into a spiky mesh of rhythms. On side B 'Set it' draws classic dancehall, soul and reggae samples across a perfect mix of fast juke cymbals and jungle amens, each part casually camouflaging the other, tempering footwork's sometimes intimidating sparseness and filling it with rich, warm and sincere rave energy.

First released in July 2009, this one has been unavailable for the better part of a year, but you still keep asking for it, so here it comes again. When this came out, Floating Points' only previous release had been a 7" on their own Eglo label, but already they had developed a strong reputation as a production unit to watch. This 12" delivers two slices of psychedelic soul and synthfunk squiggles, underpinned by squashed up 2-step rhythms and compressed hip hop drums, easily on level terms with the likes of Hud Mo or Mike Slott.